Potential '16 rivals Toomey and Kane working together

By COLITKOWITZ

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Jan 29, 2014 | 11:06 AM

|Washington

Pennsylvania Attorney General Kathleen Kane is possibly eyeing Pat Toomey's U.S. Senate seat in 2016, but on Friday the two politicians will hold a joint event in Harrisburg to highlight Toomey-sponsored legislation to protect children from sexual predators.

As the Republican party struggles to fight back against accusations of a war on women, the issue of shielding children from attack is one that erases the partisan line and appeals directly to moms - an important political demographic. Obama won the women vote by 11 points in 2012.

That's not to suggest Toomey's leadership on this is politically motivated. A father of three young children, he's shown a fondness for issues around the safety of children. It was the horrors of the Sandy Hook massacre of 20 elementary school children that drove him to work to strengthen background checks on firearms.

Toomey's legislation, which has already passed unanimously in the House, creates a uniform national policy requiring schools to background check any employee.

Though such hirings are rare, they do occur. A 2010 Government Accountability Office report found hundreds of possible instances of registered sex offenders working in schools.

While the issue itself transcends politics, political junkies won't be able to help watching closely as Kane and Toomey appear together as allies two years before they may be at battle.

Updated:Version that ran in Thursday's paper with political commentary from Muhlenberg College's Chris Borick here.